That's a major theme for Thursday's Midwest Regional matchup between 11th-seeded St. Mary's and sixth-seeded Memphis.

For St. Mary's, the issue centers on how much Tuesday's 67-54 First Four win over Middle Tennessee State in Dayton, Ohio, took out of the Gaels.

St. Mary's endured a long day of travel Monday, played Tuesday night, traveled again Wednesday (albeit a much shorter trip) and has to be ready for a midafternoon game Thursday.

Add in the fact that the Gaels are without starting guard Jorden Page because of a knee injury, and fatigue could become a problem for St. Mary's.

Of course, the Gaels chose to spin the First Four experience as a positive. Guard Matthew Dellavedova talked about "getting the rust off," and referenced St. Mary's WCC tournament game against San Diego.

The Gaels won 69-66 in overtime, but the Toreros, who had played the previous two nights with St. Mary's idle, bolted to a 20-6 lead in the first nine minutes.

The Toreros "got the jump on us," Dellavedova said, "and maybe we can do that" to the Tigers.

Said forward Mitchell Young: "I think the boys are feeling confident after our win. Memphis maybe will experience some jitters and nerves."

If the Tigers have jitters and nerves, they might stem from the previous two seasons; they went one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament in both 2011 (falling 77-75 to Arizona) and 2012 (61-54 to Saint Louis).

Guard Geron Johnson is a junior college transfer in his first season with the Tigers. He said his teammates "have a bad taste in their mouth losing in the first round two years in a row. I get the feeling from them they're not going to let that happen a third time."

Josh Pastner, a longtime Arizona assistant, owns a 105-33 record in four seasons as Memphis' head coach. None of those 105 victories has come in the NCAA Tournament.

"I recognize people are going to be on me if we don't advance in the Tournament," Pastner said. "I recognize that, but I'm OK with that. ...

"We've had tremendous success over the long haul, over the body of work. So I'm not going to let one game just diminish a season of 35 games, 34 games of tremendous success."

One reason for the Tigers' success this season: They've collected 305 steals. The Gaels have 210.

"The thing that's hardest to scout on them is they can just steal the ball," St. Mary's head coach Randy Bennett said. "You have to take care of the ball against their pressure."

The Tigers, in turn, have to deal with the pressure that comes from piling up victories in the regular season without the corresponding success in the NCAA Tournament.

"We are expected to advance, and we've got no problem with that," Pastner said. "But in order to do that, we've got to beat a very, very good St. Mary's team."

St. Mary's blueprint

Mich. - Virginia Commonwealth set the template two years ago for what St. Mary's is trying to accomplish this postseason: Win five NCAA Tournament games to reach the Final Four.

Like the Gaels, the Rams play at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday; VCU faces Akron in a South Regional matchup.

On Wednesday, VCU head coach Shaka Smart was asked what advice he would give St. Mary's Randy Bennett about going from the First Four to the Final Four:

Smart said the Gaels "played better (Tuesday) night than we did in our first game in Dayton two years ago." Coincidentally, VCU and St. Mary's each won by 13 points.

Added Smart: "A lot of people didn't think that we belonged (in the field of 68), so we tried to use that as motivation. I don't think Coach Bennett's team has been as maligned as we were.

"So, I don't know if that's as big of a deal in terms of motivation, but they have a terrific basketball team and I think they can beat anyone."

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